MembersThe Jews of Arabia and the Making of Islam, Part 10

Se’at el-Hassam

The determining moment (se’at el-Hassam) has arrived. Mohammed’s spy, Zubair ibn Aum, is going to and fro in the Jewish Qurayza camp. He is trying to feel the mood. Meanwhile, another of Mohammed’s companions, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, is infiltrating the Quraysh, Ghatafan and the Jewish Nadir coalition.

“We have to get Ka’b ibn Asad on our side. Bringing him into our coalition is the only thing that can save us,” says prince Eitam in the war room. The coalition seems to be breaking apart. The brilliant ploy of the Ghatafan defector, Nuaym ibn Masud, has succeeded. The coalition tribes are now deeply suspicious of one another, and demoralization is spreading. “Ka’b ibn Asad (chief of the Qurayza) has made a pact with Mohammed, and there is no way he will break it,” says Joshua, an advisor to prince Eitam. “This Ka’b is worse than an Arab,” says Asael, the military advisor. “We have no choice. I’ll go,” says the chief of the Nadir, Hai ben Ahituv.